EMR II - Evil Magician Returns upgraded to DPC+!

[PFL]

I've been playing around on Stella and everything runs fine. I thought I'd try it out on my Harmony and 2600 jr to get the full experience. It runs well enough but the problem is that I'm in the UK and the colours just look really bad on my PAL telly. Any chance of a a PAL colour corrected version?

[+Gemintronic]

You know, I worked on an easy way to select colors for NTSC for bB. If someone could provide the comparable hex values for PAL converting between TV standards would be dead easy. One just has to go into VisualbB, select PAL and then look in the color chooser to get the hex values for each of the constant definitions here..

 

NTSC Colors:

const c_brown = $F2

const c_pink = $3C

const c_skyblue = $98

const c_olive = $E4

const c_lilac = $7A

const c_aqua = $B8

const c_orange = $38

const c_blue = $86

const c_red = $46

const c_purple = $64

const c_lime = $DA

const c_gold = $2E

const c_navy = $84

const c_green = $C6

const c_maroon = $42

const c_yellow = $1E

const c_fuchsia = $58

const c_cyan = $A6

const c_white = $0E

const c_ltgray = $0C

const c_silver = $0A

const c_gray = $08

const c_dkgray = $04

const c_black = $00

const c_tan = $FC

Edited August 5, 2012 by theloon

[Byte Knight]

EMRII is excellent, and will make a great game when finished. I enjoyed the gamplay very much last night. It was hard to stop testing this fine game. The one thing that did stop me was when I took an item (trophy/cup/chalice) into the red castle, the game screen started flashing, while displaying the chalice. Was that supposed to happen? I had to reset and start over.

 

Thanks! Are you talking about the dark mazes in the red castle or the top room of the castle with the torches? The dark mazes light area flickers so you can see the item you're carrying (player0 is always displayed over player1). In the rooms with the torches, the walls change colors from light to dark for a "torch effect." Was it one of these two things? If so, they're part of the game.

[Byte Knight]

I've been playing around on Stella and everything runs fine. I thought I'd try it out on my Harmony and 2600 jr to get the full experience. It runs well enough but the problem is that I'm in the UK and the colours just look really bad on my PAL telly. Any chance of a a PAL colour corrected version?

 

Philsan - are you up for this again once the game is more complete?

[purenergy]

EMRII is excellent, and will make a great game when finished. I enjoyed the gamplay very much last night. It was hard to stop testing this fine game. The one thing that did stop me was when I took an item (trophy/cup/chalice) into the red castle, the game screen started flashing, while displaying the chalice. Was that supposed to happen? I had to reset and start over.

 

Thanks! Are you talking about the dark mazes in the red castle or the top room of the castle with the torches? The dark mazes light area flickers so you can see the item you're carrying (player0 is always displayed over player1). In the rooms with the torches, the walls change colors from light to dark for a "torch effect." Was it one of these two things? If so, they're part of the game.

The top room of the castle with the torches. After I took the chalice into the castle, the entire game was frozen/locked. Nothing would work. I thought since I had brought the chalice into a castle this might be the end of a level. It looked very nice, but I had to reset the game on the console, instead of going to the next level.

I am going to try it again and see if I can repeat this, and find out exactly where it is.

Excellent game!

[+Gemintronic]

I've been playing around on Stella and everything runs fine. I thought I'd try it out on my Harmony and 2600 jr to get the full experience. It runs well enough but the problem is that I'm in the UK and the colours just look really bad on my PAL telly. Any chance of a a PAL colour corrected version?

 

Philsan - are you up for this again once the game is more complete?

 

No one likes the idea of using constants to easily switch between pal and ntsc colors.. sigh..

 

If someone could pick 25 colors from the PAL palette and match them with the constants above then converting between standards would be as easy as using constants for color names instead of hex. Just copy and paste either the NTSC or PAL versions of the constants.

Edited August 6, 2012 by theloon

[+SpiceWare]

No one likes the idea of using constants to easily switch between pal and ntsc colors.. sigh..

I use color constants in my code. This is a snippet from Space Rocks

 IF COMPILE_VERSION = NTSC
; NTSC color values
GREY            = $00
YELLOW          = $10
ORANGE          = $20
RED             = $40
PURPLE          = $60
BLUE            = $80
CYAN            = $B0
GREEN           = $C0
WHITE           = $0F
OPTION_COLOR    = $86
ELSE
; PAL color values
GREY            = $00
YELLOW          = $20
ORANGE          = $40
RED             = $60
PURPLE          = $C0
BLUE            = $D0
CYAN            = $70
GREEN           = $50
WHITE           = $0F
OPTION_COLOR    = $D6
ENDIF
PLAYER1_COLOR   = PURPLE + 6
PLAYER2_COLOR   = GREEN + 6

 

If someone could pick 25 colors from the PAL palette and match them with the constants above then converting between standards would be as easy as using constants for color names instead of hex. Just copy and paste either the NTSC or PAL versions of the constants.

 

Have you seen SeaGtGruff's color equivalence list, or RT's interactive NTSC/PAL Color Conversion tool that's based on it?

Edited August 6, 2012 by SpiceWare

[purenergy]

Although I'm still curious what made the game freeze up, after I brought the Chalice into the Red Castle (Level One), I could not repeat it. I spent almost 3 hours with this excellent game today, but the bat kept taking the Chalice!! Level two was excellent. The Dragon killed me, and was done very well.

Can't wait to see this game done!

[+Atarius Maximus]

No one likes the idea of using constants to easily switch between pal and ntsc colors.. sigh..

I use color constants in my code. This is a snippet from Space Rocks

 IF COMPILE_VERSION = NTSC
; NTSC color values
GREY = $00
YELLOW = $10
ORANGE = $20
RED = $40
PURPLE = $60
BLUE = $80
CYAN = $B0
GREEN = $C0
WHITE = $0F
OPTION_COLOR = $86
ELSE
; PAL color values
GREY = $00
YELLOW = $20
ORANGE = $40
RED = $60
PURPLE = $C0
BLUE = $D0
CYAN = $70
GREEN = $50
WHITE = $0F
OPTION_COLOR = $D6
ENDIF
PLAYER1_COLOR = PURPLE + 6
PLAYER2_COLOR = GREEN + 6

 

If someone could pick 25 colors from the PAL palette and match them with the constants above then converting between standards would be as easy as using constants for color names instead of hex. Just copy and paste either the NTSC or PAL versions of the constants.

 

Have you seen SeaGtGruff's color equivalence list, or RT's interactive NTSC/PAL Color Conversion tool that's based on it?

 

I worked with RevEng and philsan a few years back on converting Cave In to PAL. We came up with the chart below, it shows the closest PAL equivalent of every NTSC color.

[+Philsan]

I've been playing around on Stella and everything runs fine. I thought I'd try it out on my Harmony and 2600 jr to get the full experience. It runs well enough but the problem is that I'm in the UK and the colours just look really bad on my PAL telly. Any chance of a a PAL colour corrected version?

 

Philsan - are you up for this again once the game is more complete?

Of course!

 

RT took into account (not completely) in his tool what I wrote here after Cave In PAL color conversion:

http://www.atariage....s/#entry2116167

[+Gemintronic]

Is this the first bB DPC+ game to be put on cart? I don't mind bB 1.1 being in a prolonged beta period but it'd be nice if we really, really knew the harmony boards can take it.

[KevinMos3]

This looks outstanding. I love the way the rooms glow with the torches. All-round excellent job. I can hardly wait till the next update.

[TrekMD]

I have been trying this out and it does look great! I need to take more time this weekend to test it out more thoroughly, but I do like what I see. I've only been testing it through emulation. Is it safe to assume it will work fine on the Harmony cart? I want to give it a spin on real hardware.

[KevinMos3]

I've only been testing it through emulation. Is it safe to assume it will work fine on the Harmony cart? I want to give it a spin on real hardware.

 

Yes, it works great on the Harmony cart. That's what I was using to play it.

[TrekMD]

Excellent! Then I'll be testing it this weekend using real hardware.

[+Gemintronic]

Is this the first bB DPC+ game to be put on cart? I don't mind bB 1.1 being in a prolonged beta period but it'd be nice if we really, really knew the harmony boards can take it.

 

urgh.. Sorry! I meant Melody boards.. You know: the carts Albert uses for one-offs

[KevinMos3]

urgh.. Sorry! I meant Melody boards.. You know: the carts Albert uses for one-offs

 

I figured that's what you meant so I wasn't going to point it out.

 

I suppose it's good to clarify though so others don't get confused.

[Byte Knight]

This looks outstanding. I love the way the rooms glow with the torches. All-round excellent job. I can hardly wait till the next update.

 

Thanks! The glowing rooms seem to be better received than my flashing rooms in Epic Adventure...

[Byte Knight]

Is this the first bB DPC+ game to be put on cart? I don't mind bB 1.1 being in a prolonged beta period but it'd be nice if we really, really knew the harmony boards can take it.

 

urgh.. Sorry! I meant Melody boards.. You know: the carts Albert uses for one-offs

 

As I understand it, If it works on Harmony it should work on Melody. No plans for EMR II carts yet, but Epic Adventure is supposed to come out on cart at some point...

[MrBeefy]

Dude I only got to play level 1 but I really like it! Played smooth and I like the wizard graphics nice. Can't wait to get more time to try out II and play with it some more!

[KevinMos3]

The top room of the castle with the torches. After I took the chalice into the castle, the entire game was frozen/locked. Nothing would work. I thought since I had brought the chalice into a castle this might be the end of a level. It looked very nice, but I had to reset the game on the console, instead of going to the next level.

I am going to try it again and see if I can repeat this, and find out exactly where it is.

Excellent game!

 

What you're describing sounds to me like you won the game. The goal is to bring the chalice back to your castle at which point the screen should flash and the game is over. I haven't found the chalice in this game yet, but that's what happens with Adventure games. If you want to play Game Variation 2 you need to select it at the beginning.

 

Although, you bring up an interesting idea. Perhaps instead of treating it as 3 game variations, you could press the button to continue at the next higher variation... maybe even with an intermission screen in between. So basically, once you return the chalice the screen flashes, you press the button, the screen says something like "The chalice has been stolen again. Can you return it with harder blah blah blah..."

Kinda like one of those end-game screens that pretty much tells you to play the game again on a higher difficulty. The game variation 3 win screen would need to say something slightly different since it's the hardest level, or just end it there and not loop to another game.

Edited August 10, 2012 by KevinMos3

[Byte Knight]

What you're describing sounds to me like you won the game. The goal is to bring the chalice back to your castle at which point the screen should flash and the game is over. I haven't found the chalice in this game yet, but that's what happens with Adventure games. If you want to play Game Variation 2 you need to select it at the beginning.

 

The ending in this game is a little different than Adventure, and it only happens outside the gold castle when you return the chalice to the castle gate. So, I don't think what happened to pureenrgy was the game ending. Also, no one has really commented on the game ending - I'm curious to see what people think...

 

BTW, awesome job on your Adventure hack! When will you resume work on this?

[KevinMos3]

Also, no one has really commented on the game ending - I'm curious to see what people think...

Hmmm... I haven't even found the chalice yet on level 1, but I'll be sure to comment when I do!

 

edit: Okay, I played Game 1 again last night until I fell asleep playing and continued this morning when I woke up. I explored every part of it and even tried using the staff's magnetism to find either the black key or the chalice and I found neither one. So, Game 1 seems unwinnable to me. I'm going to need some tips.

 

I then played Game 2 and that one was much better. I quickly found all keys, the staff, and the chalice... oh, and the Dragon! Yikes! Great looking sprites. Anyway, I took the chalice back home and saw the interesting win screen.

So, flames come up from the chalice and a Magician is burned up in them?.. or is he captured in them? I guess this is where a manual with a backstory/goal would clarify things. I look forward to the final product.

 

 

BTW, awesome job on your Adventure hack! When will you resume work on this?

Thank you very much! That's a hard question to answer. I have some time now that I've completed my degree. I'm going Army active duty, but I don't have my branch or BOLC dates yet, so I've got at least a couple of months before I go anywhere... so it's a matter of what I choose to prioritize during this time. If I behave responsibly, it shouldn't be game hacks... lol... but we'll see. I intend to come back to it eventually no matter what, but I don't know how long that will be.

 

I need to refresh on what I was doing when it was last worked on and get to where I understand Nukey's newer multi-color kernel. Right now, I'm completely befuddled by it, so I could continue with the source I was working with before or figure out Nukey's newer one to make the final product even better.

Edited August 11, 2012 by KevinMos3

[Byte Knight]

Okay, I played Game 1 again last night until I fell asleep playing and continued this morning when I woke up. I explored every part of it and even tried using the staff's magnetism to find either the black key or the chalice and I found neither one. So, Game 1 seems unwinnable to me. I'm going to need some tips.

 

That's funny - I didn't intend to make Level 1 harder than Level 2! The skull key for the gray castle is in the white castle - head up and to the right in the white castle.

 

The idea for the ending is that the chalice "sucks in" the Evil Magician and destroys him once and for all...

[littleman jack]

This looks outstanding. I love the way the rooms glow with the torches. All-round excellent job. I can hardly wait till the next update.

 

Thanks! The glowing rooms seem to be better received than my flashing rooms in Epic Adventure...

 

Thanks for that. Glowing rooms make me dizzy, unfortunately. Two of my favorite homebrews, Oystron and This Planet Sucks also make me dizzy these days. But glowing rooms should be just fine. Thanks for making yet another quality adventure game for the VCS. I'm looking forward to this one on cart!